IWA 1975 Opening

[@chine62]

Boy, I am almost in tears watching this; I was barely seven back then: almost thirty years ago.

[@josephvitielo1693]

Saw this on WOR NY in 75 late night

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

Man this is gold. Used to watch this as a ten year old in the 80's. My grandma got a kick out of wrestling too haha

[@nitrofiche7206]

This brought back a lot of memories. Used to watch IWA wrestling back in the late 70s.

[@josephvitielo1693]

75?

[@nitrofiche7206]

​@@josephvitielo169377

[@Bushmaster10MM]

I just found this post, and I'm overjoyed !! You've brought back many memories my friend. You see, the IWA promotion was my indoctrination into my longtime love of pro wrestling ! Summer of 75, for about 2 months, every Saturday night. My favorites were Ivan Koloff , (Moved incredibly to be at what was his largest size ever) Big Cat Ernie Ladd (looked just like my dad) and Dick "The Bulldog" Brower ! Momma loved Mighty Igor...... Boooo !! Anyway, thanks for the memories ! Carry on, JB

[@rjplamf61]

this is too much. i used to watch the IWA every Saturday night in NYC when i was in junior high school. their slogan was, "THE IWA IS HERE TO STAY." yeah, it stayed for maybe two years but i loved every minute of it.

[@davegoren9978]

This was on in the New York area when I was about 12, at something like midnight on Saturday night, and I always stayed up to watch it. Before Bruno Sammartino and when he was announcer, Vince McMaMahon, and before the Hulk, there was Mil Mascaras, the Mighty Igor, Ernie Ladd, and Dick "The Bulldog" Browser. I even loved that keyboard funky music they played. Man, I miss this.

[@bcomyack]

This Jersey Devil watched this many many years ago. Been hooked ever since. Mighty Igor Awesome! !!!!

[@spiderreed350]

Omg,what Memories, this is great.me and my brother would watch this IWA wrestling in Ct.from midnight until 1am every Saturday night religiously on WWOR,Channel 9 from New York City.than at 1am we watched Don Kirchner's Rock Concert.and than if we could manage to stay awake we'd watch Chiller Theater with the hand that came up through the ground,lol..those were the good old days. I loved Saturday nights. I'd wait all week for wrestling... When I started watching it I think Bruno Sammartino was champion, than Bob Backlund or Superstar Billy Graham, I forgot,but yeah it was really good. I seen about 80% of the wrestlers they showed at the beginning of this show,and the commentators were I think Gorilla Monsoon and Vince McMahon Jr..I could be mistaken, they might have came later.I know Monsoon was still wrestling also and doing commentator also...I believe I started watching when I was about 12 which would have made it 1974..wow,so long ago..I remembered we had a Black and White TV until 1975 I think. Lol...than we got cable TV not long after that and I'd watch live monthly wrestling shows from Madison Square Garden. I was in heaven because that's where they'd have all the big title matches from every month on a Monday night all the time..it was between 2.5 and 3 hour cards.usually around 10 matches, every belt on the line, just insane...than it went to WWF,Pay per view, wrestle manias and the rest is history...

[@author]

Outside of Gordon Solie of "Championship Wrestling from Florida," Jack Reynolds was probably my favorite announcer, followed by Bill Kirsten of the Kansas-Missouri-Iowa circuit who opened every show with "Helloooooooooooooo wrestling fans. Are you ready?" Jack was also at Radio Station WWWE in Cleveland, and he did many national TV Commercials.

[@stewartquark1661]

Gordon Solie........yes, I agree. He could make walking down the street sounf like a once-in-a-lifetime event!

[@larrytressler4509]

I worked with Jack Reynolds at WUAB TV in Cleveland for many years. He was a very interesting person.

[@josephvitielo1693]

No Vince mcmahon

[@madbrowniac7871]

Intriguing indeed that Jack Reynolds worked for WWWE in Cleveland. When The WWF went to its national expansion in about late 1983 they hired Jack Reynolds himself as a play by play guy. Even more intriguing the then WWWF had regional offices in Toronto and Mexico City. Much of the talent during that run was shuttled between The WWWF and groups such as IWA.B.W.

[@larrystarstruck]

Great footage, I did like the roll call of stars too. That is different than anyone else did at the time.

[@stewartquark1661]

Watched this on Saturday mornings summer of 1975 here in Pennsylvania!

[@BrianCenti-j4d]

This is what got me into wrestling in the beginning of 1975. I was the biggest mark ever.if some heel did something to a face I was screaming at my TV set 😅😅😅😅 I thought the world of Mil Mascaras and Mighty Igor 😮😮😮😊😊. This to me, is better by far than what we have today. This and NWA from FL. was great.

[@briancenti5423]

this started me on wrestling in early 1975. i was so incredibly hooked. it would come on at 12 midnight on WOR channel 9 every saturday. than one night i looked for it, and WWWF replaced it. i was in tears and so pissed off. this was Wrestling, unlike the crap we are stuck with today.

[@mrc302]

I remember being pissed off when it was no longer on also.

[@josephcostello695]

This was on after the WWWF at 12am WOR NY

[@keithbarbaro7590]

wasn't WWWF on Ch 47 and IWA on WOR until IWA folded and WWWF then became exclusive wrestling on WOR?

[@rockyllpiper3786]

Yonkers Raceway was on b4 this I believe at 1130 am

[@mrc302]

​@@keithbarbaro7590 You are 100 percent right.👍🏾

[@blackmamba5725]

Oh my god…I watched this in the 80s. I remember this intro so well….

[@adesolaadegbite1082]

I always stay up night to watch this on NTA Ibadan, oyo state Nigeria in the 70s

[@magnetmac1]

NTA Channel 6 Aba, back in the late 70s and early 80s - every Saturdays, early in the afternoon right after the national anthem.

[@bradebunch]

What ever happened to Brady Howard? He really connected with the Cleveland,Mansfield and Akron fans,he was a real gentleman,treated the fans well. I remember watching him signing autographs for twenty minutes after a hard match that night and he was obviously very tired,but he patiently signed every piece of paper that was put before him to sign.

[@felicity4711]

Love the funky theme song! :-)

[@josephvitielo1693]

Agree

[@MrChristopherHaas]

Only got these broadcasts in the summer of 75’ in milwaukee. at 11pm Saturday Night. Ill never forget seeing it in tv guide earlier in the week i first saw it here in awa territory. Mil Mascaras,Kangaroos said the tv guide. I couldnt wait, big sleepover of 12 years olds that couldnt wait to see what we had only read about.

[@buffalomanicwolf]

Johnny Powers or probably the Martinez family. They eventually bought the IWA from Eddie Einhorn in late 75. By 1977 the promotion pulled back on being national and tried to compete with Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in North Carolina. Pedro Martinez eventually pulled out and left Johnny Powers to promote exclusively. He "stripped" Mil Mascaras (a fact nobody mentions today) and put the belt on himself. He traded it with Bulldog Brower sporadically defending it in 81 in Manilla the last time.

[@Dotun007]

Not only that, he defended his IWA North American belt against Bulldog Brower in 1982 or so in Nigeria years after the promotion had ceased to exist

[@oldtyedyeguy]

Backing up a bit.. to old NWF, was often at Akron Armory for the Saturday night shows. Also got to see the live Championship Wrestling tapings at WUAB/43 studios in Parma, which were utilized within the Cleveland/Buffalo/Akron/Hamilton Ont (sometimes Pittsburgh) broadcast areas. It was interesting watching promos for the "out of town" areas, such as Dunkirk. Those tapings with upcoming "out of sync" title belt defense promos was interesting.😅

[@elc1960]

@BottomlessJackDaniel They also got guys from Bruno's "Studio Wrestling", like Eric the Red, Johnny DeFazio, John L. Sullivan (aka Luscious Johnny Valiant), Waldo Von Erich & Dominic DeNucci, to name a few. Quite a few NWF jobbers were also regulars on WWWF's "Championship Wrestling" and "All Star Wrestling" TV shows.

[@rockyllpiper3786]

Was this shown on WOR Tv channel 9 in New York in 70's. I'm gonna say around 75-76?

[@mrc302]

Midnight Saturday/Sunday morning on Channel 9. Watched every weekend.

[@StukInBuf]

@@mrc302 IIRC, as I was living in the Iron Range(Minnesota), Channels 10 and 13 used to air this on the weekends.

[@BottomlessJackDaniel]

@elc1960 Yes. it's indeed the same Eddie Einhorn... Pedro Martinez was actually the man who promoted the NWF, it ran mainly from Cleveland to Buffalo. The Sheik, Powers & Martinez shared a lot of the same talent, a lot of that talent you can see here in this video!.

[@tornmask1]

this was definitely an awesome pro-wrestling tv program of the mid 70s

[@RichardGustason]

Did you notice the excitement Tex McKenzie had just drained out of his body right before our eyes at the end? lol

[@DotDotkins]

This was an early attempt at creating a national wrestling promotion 10 years before Vince McMahon Jr. did it unfortunately it was before the rise of cable and satellite TV which probably explains why it failed at the time.

[@chine62]

My childhood.

[@billelkins1974]

We've got it all together here on chaninternational championship wrestling

[@RaptorFromWeegee]

I remember the "International Wrestling" TV show popping up in the New York area on the old channel 67 I'm guessing during the late 70s. I'd been watching Vince McMann's show for maybe 2 years and was delighted. There was something appealing about the IWA. They had a better announcer, the performances were tighter and more concise, plus the wrestlers themselves were cheesier. George Cannon? "Boom-boom-boom"? The whole operation had a homespun vibe about it and I was sorry to see it go.

[@beatlejim64]

Great time for pro wrestling...the 1970's. Loved watching the IWA!!!

[@andyr1313]

Great bumper music for the intro also- "Compared to What" by Brian Auger...

[@opeyemiadeloye5675]

The good old days

[@altfactor]

Dig the primitive chyron graphics identifying the rasslers!

[@checktruth2291]

It was a roll back to the 70s when wrestlers were men & not boys like what we have today...Hahaahha...it was fun then in schools when gists if iwa came up...hahahah... Over 4 decades ago...too nice...

[@elc1960]

Is that the same Eddie Einhorn who owned the Chicago White Sox? The description also mentions the old NWF promotion - that group was loosely affiliated with The Sheik in Detroit, as well as the Johnny Powers Cleveland group and Pedro Martinez's Buffalo promotion. They also used wrestlers from Bruno Sammartino's "Studio Wrestling" promotion. They gave Greg ("The Hammer") Valentine his first major push (he was "Johnny Fargo" then, and teamed with Donnie Fargo).

[@Rjensen2]

Yes

[@puck30]

Who owns this I.W.A. tape library? hopefully not Vince.

[@olive6405]

What about Georgia Championship Wrestling on Super Station WTBS Atlanta?

[@Rjensen2]

What about it?

[@DerGunzWald]

I feel you Chine...

[@killan001]

0:29 what are the love brothers doing to that man?? They should be disqualified!!

[@ricklivingston966]

if they had the pockets vince had his wrestling couldnt shine there shoes

[@checktruth2291]

It is nice

[@ricklivingston966]

this was my first wrestling experience wor tv before wwwf i like this so much better why did they go bancrupt

[@jimkeary7781]

I have just posted a match on KZbin from this promotion between Ivan Koloff and Del Starr. Check it out.

[@BottomlessJackDaniel]

@bhilcu1 He sure was...

[@MrChristopherHaas]

Pretty funny how they couldnt say “Luscious Larry”s last name right or bother to spell it out on promo. Thats as low budget as it gets

[@Rjensen2]

Neither did you on this post.

[@Rjensen2]

And it's funny that you referred to a chyron as a "promo".

[@MrChristopherHaas]

@@Rjensen2hey hey I learned a new word today.

[@MrChristopherHaas]

@@Rjensen2did you know I’ve watched this video umpteen times. I also still remember watching original broadcast at midnight one warm summer Saturday night in 75’. I love it. My comment is meant in the most lighthearted way, it’s wrestling for crumbs sake lol.

[@MrChristopherHaas]

@@Rjensen2this is also not the only territory that constantly miss rounded his last name, no wonder they changed it to Lars Anderson. He used both names in awa as I grew up 🙄

[@elindioedwards1048]

They had some really great talent. Probably superior to what the WWWF had at the time. Lou Thez was also featured.

[@ruslan4ep443]

Я один тут из Украины?

[@aaronfarmer192]

Sorry but Jack Reynolds knew NOTHING about wrestling...

[@josephvitielo1693]

he had a great voice